Amaranthine
by baited with hypotheses
Summary: We all know the little girl who fell down a rabbit hole and went through the looking glass, but does Alice even know herself? A retelling of the classic tale set in a futuristic warring world on the verge of crumbling.


**Disclaimer**_: Alice in Wonderland is not epicaricacy's._

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**Amaranthine**

i. Prologue

**_Betwixt and Beyond_**

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_The heavens fell. Fragments of what was once a blue sky sliced through the deafening silence like shattered glass. Pink puffy clouds danced wistfully in the remaining azure sky, blissfully ignorant of the destruction happening right under their noses. Firestorms swallowed all that was breathing as mist rolled on, enveloping those who managed to survive in a cold blanket of the scent cloying saccharine death. _

_It was a sign. __**They**__ were here to finally claim the world as theirs. __**They**__ were here…to….make a better world_ –

"Lea! Mommy! Daddy! Where are you?" A young girl screamed; her big violet eyes were glazed with unshed tears. Another bomb exploded, sending bits of debris flying into her. Alice curled into a ball, waiting for impact. Tears fell silently as she saw from the corner of her amethyst eyes splinters going to her direction. The moment finally came, and the debris embedded themselves deep into her ivory flesh. A deep, monstrous sound escaped her lips as the cold darkness seeped into her soul. Glassy jeweled eyes closed, and a candle—_her _candle— flickered out.

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"Zerin." An alluring, sweetly poisoned voice hissed – control evident in every word – from the darkness. Alice's mind felt foggy, and she couldn't see things clearly in the dim lightning. She couldn't even see herself. Was she even _alive_? Alice did see, however, a hooded figure glide towards the direction of the voice.

"My lady, what is it that you need?" The figure named Zerin whispered both softly and in a deafening manner. She – the voice sounded female to Alice – bowed down ever so slightly as a fae-like creature –complete with gossamer wings – emerged from the shadows.

"It's the new pet. She's awake." The winged lady remarked smugly, not bothering to hide her grotesque amusement.

Alice didn't notice that 'the lady' was referring to her. She didn't even notice that her gaze was locked on the beautiful being before her. Her eyes were already getting lost the being's golden caramel ones until a figure – Zerin, perhaps – struck her not-so-kindly in the face.

"Zerin! That is not how you treat our pets." The being reprimanded the hooded figure, and in one swift motion, yanked Zerin's hood to show the true face—white skin, eyes like an unending night, and even darker hair. Zerin was indeed a female ('_I had been correct_,' Alice thought), and her features were pretty, though not quite as beautiful as 'the lady's.'

"Is this heaven?" Alice asked them, and 'the lady' simply chuckled, her tiny laughs evaporating as soon as she let them out of her mouth. Zerin replied with a role of her eyes, and Alice knew at that moment that she should have remained quiet. But something inside her still urged her to speak. "Am I not dead?"

"I never said you weren't dead, my dear, but I never said you're alive." 'The lady' told her, her words sounding like sugar-coated belladonna roots, "And this, obviously, isn't heaven."

"Then.....where…am I?" Alice asked in a shaky voice; the words climbed their way out of her mouth and somehow managed to fragment themselves as soon as she said them. '_What am I?_'

A little laugh escaped the lady's lips as glass walls fenced them in, "This, my dear Alice, is the perfect world. And…you…You are one of its amaranths – immortal beings who shall control a myriad of ugly little realms!"

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_Perfect World_…She had a hard time grasping that concept. How was _this_ perfection? Did you call the blood of the innocent running through our rivers_ perfection_? Was the world was _perfect _when everything around you crashes and burns? Was _perfection_ not the absence of war but the presence of beautiful creatures and their macabre sense of peace?

_Perfect world_…What _was _a perfect world and why was little Alice in one? Her world, after all, only consisted of Papa and Mama and Azalea and ribbons, frills, story books and chocolate. It was fine that way, and the small brat needed not a _perfect_ world.

"Milady," Zerin entered the glass chamber carrying a cup of what seemed like tea. Alice blinked. She was a 'lady' too, now?

"Madam Raziel wanted me to bring you something to drink," the cruelly beautiful Zerin spat, all her disgust present in her tone. She left right after setting the cup on the glass table, without uttering another word.

"Bleh. I hate tea," Alice mumbled, pushing away the steaming cup. Still, she took a small sip just to be polite. Her face crunched up and her nose crinkled at the tea's unpleasant taste.

The young girl then watched as the world around her cracked and crumbled like the towers made of soft clay. The glass walls trapped her in, threatening to break any minute if she attempted to escape. Everything was so clear and transparent in the glass cage of hers. She could see all of the pitiful world below and the pathetic people struggling to survive. Alice, for the first time, felt superior…felt _powerful_. She no longer felt vulnerable and weak; Alice was a child no more. She was here to control poor worlds like the one below her lace stockings. She was no longer worried about Papa and Mama and Azalea…

'_Who __**are**__ you!?' _A voice pierced through her head. It was not her own. The voice was childish and small, two things this Alice was not.

"I am Alice." The young girl replied, not questioning her sanity even a little bit, "Who are you?"

'_**I**__ am Alice!'_ The voice argued. _'You are __**not**__ Alice!'_

"I am pretty sure I am Alice," She rolled her violet eyes; "Maybe you are another Alice."

The voice inside her then screamed,_ 'NO! NO! __**NO**__! __**I**__ AM ALICE! __**I AM ALICE**__! YOU __**ARE NOT**__ ALICE!' _Her yell echoed inside the glass building as Alice crumpled on the glass bed, her face twisted into a pained expression.

_Who_ was Alice? _What_ was Alice? Was she even…_Alice_?

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There was a mirror. A mirror reflecting light. Alice wanted to touch it; to be near its glimmering beauty. She wanted to gaze into the glass, just to see if she was still herself. So she walked –ran—towards the sparkling slab of reflective glass. She needed reassurance that everything would be fine

_____Her hand grasped the edge of the mirror, and faceless figures began pulling her into the liquid darkness. A silent scream escaped her pale lips as sharp talon-like fingers dug into her skin, yanking her deeper into the darkness_—Her hand grasped the edge of the mirror, and faceless figures began pulling her into the liquid darkness. A silent scream escaped her pale lips as sharp talon-like fingers dug into her skin, yanking her deeper into the darkness—Her hand grasped the edge of the mirror, and faceless figures began pulling her into the liquid darkness. A silent scream escaped her pale lips as sharp talon-like fingers dug into her skin, yanking her deeper into the darkness—

Then all the pain became numbness. Alice was frozen inside the mirror, unable to move, think or speak. The faceless figures left her alone after countless struggles and now, she was a little child again. A little child stuck in a supernatural war where humans were only pawns. A little child looking for her Papa and Mama and Azalea. A little child lost and confused and very, very, _very_ afraid.

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"Alice!" "Alice!" "Alice!" Different voices called out to her. She wanted to listen to all of them, but everything to her was just buzzing noises and pounding heartbeats.

"ALICE!" The loudest noise was Azalea's chirpy voice. "You're still Alice, my little sister." Still, it was hard for the amethyst-eyed girl to understand, for everything to her was just pandemonium.

"Don't let these people tell you who you are." Azalea continued, "You're _you_."

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Suddenly, she was running towards the mirror again. How she found the strength to use her feet once more was beyond her. A pale hand grasped the edge, and figures gently lifted her into the glass. She was floating…Almost flying. It was a sweet sensation. The figures slowly carried her through the darkness and another slab of glass was in her way.

"_Enter," one of the figures said, before shoving her inside the other mirror._

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"_**Lea! Mommy! Daddy! Where are you?" **_

Alice saw herself –the younger, naïve part of her—scream at the top of her lungs. She ran towards the other girl and entwined her shaking fingers with hers, before the bomb exploded; before the younger Alice's 'end.'

"Come with me, Alice." The seemingly older girl told her, "You'll be safe with me."

"…Lea?" The other Alice asked, silent tears falling like the debris above them. "Is that you, Lea?"

The amaranth Alice's amethyst eyes grew darker, almost fading to black. "No, my dear, I am not Azalea. I am _you_….I am your guardian and I'm here to save both of us."

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My name is Alice and I am an amaranth, an immortal destined to control the fate of the worlds. By the time you have read this, My dear Lady Raziel, I have already travelled and warped my own destiny. I am not your lapdog; I am who I am. I can alter whoever destiny I want. I chose mine. I have chosen to change to course of my life, to make sure that you or any of your servants have never touched Earth. By the time I have sent this and altered my present, I will no longer remember you or Zerin. I shall start anew, with no memories of being an amaranth.

_So go ahead and hunt me down for all I care. You can never hold my fate in your pointed hands ever again._


End file.
